I could see that. A lot of danger in giving him that much control over personnel, which is what he wants. I still have a feeling that Kelly, unlike Pioli, will actually adapt his game whereas Pioli's problem was that he tried to force-fit the only thing he knew.

The thing with his innovation is, things in the NFL get figured out pretty quick. It's why the wildcat flamed, etc.

It will eventually get figured out, he's just gonna have to always stay a step ahead. Which seemed, IMO, to be a problem for him at Oregon in that whenever his teams were physically handled, they struggled.

Great hire for the Brownies. It's the pick you make when you gamble -- they chose not to play it safe, and it could pay some huge dividends for them. Worst case scenario, the experiment doesn't work and 3 years from now, you have a team that's fast and ready for the spread but needs a scheme adjustment.

What?

Worst case scenario is the experiment doesn't work, they've sold out to build for the spread, and have to completely gut the thing so that it resembles an NFL team again.

FWIW, Petersen is a bad fit for Oregon. His offense is a very complex pro-style system with Pistol and Wildcat elements, heavily predicated on varied formations and pre-snap shifts. It's not really similar to Chip's system.

The league is moving to a more spread-oriented approach and teams are incorporating a ton of no-huddle, because it keeps defenses from switching personnel. Kelly's system can absolutely work. The question is if he will tweak the spread to fit the NFL.

Keep in mind that Kelly took somebody else's spread and came up with his own innovative twists, just like Monte Kiffin took the Tampa 2 and adapted it to fit the changing NFL. Interviews I've heard with Kelly indicate that he knows it could be a trendy defense and you have to adapt the scheme to the situation. From what I've heard, the guy is incredibly bright and learns very quickly, not like a copycat spread guy.

The offensive coordinator hire is going to be a big one. If he hires someone with NFL experience, that would help immensely in adapting his game. It's a risky hire, but I happen to think he's a smart guy who's going to find a really creative way to make his scheme fit the NFL.